REVIEW: ‘Detective Comics,’ Issue #1000 – Celebrating 80 Years of Batman

Detective Comics #1000 is published by DC Comics and is a jam-packed 96-page issue celebrating not just 1000 issues of Detective Comics, but also 80 years of Batman. The comic features the creative talents of:

Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, Tom Napolitano, Kevin Smith, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Sinclair, Todd Klein, Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen, Derek Fridolfs, John Kalisz, Steve Wands, Warren Ellis, Becky Cloonan, Jordie Bellaire, Simon Bowland, Denny O’Neil, Steve Epting, Elizabeth Breitweiser, AndWorld Designs, Christopher Priest, Neal Adams, Dave Stewart, Willie Schubert, Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Josh Reed, Geoff Johns, Kelley Jones, Michelle Madsen, Rob Leigh, James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez-Bueno, Raul Fernandez, Brad Anderson, Sal Cipriano, Tom King, Tony S. Daniels, Joëlle Jones, Tomeu Morey, Clayton Cowles, Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, and David Baron.

The book is an anthology of Batman stories from various creative teams. The stories’ time periods vary but all of them are accessible to both new and old readers of the Bat, which is important here. Big issues like this always pick up new readers, so stories like this can be an excellent starting point for someone who, despite Batman’s long history in the medium, has never delved into the Dark Knight’s deep lore. The stories range in tone but mostly stay on the lighter side with many reminding me of Lil’ Gotham or the fantastic Batman the Animated Series – the latter of which is very understandable seeing as Paul Dini penned a story in this comic.

While every story focuses on Batman, a few feature the rest of the Batfamily, in true Detective Comics fashion. With most of them including Dick Grayson. In recent issues, primarily during DC’s Rebirth, Detective Comics focused on the Batfamily as a whole and how they worked with and under Batman’s guidance. In my opinion, Batfamily drama is often one of the best parts of Batman and his lore. I know it is one of the things that brings me back constantly as a reader. So, to see so much of the family featured throughout these stories was refreshing.

Not every story is necessarily amazing, but none are downright bad with most falling into the great to pretty good range and considering the all-star creative rooster on this comic that isn’t surprising. My favorites were:

• “Batman’s Longest Case” from Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano
• “The Legend of Knute Brody” by Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen, Derek Fridolfs, John Kalisz, and Steve Wands
• “Batman’s Greatest Case” by Tom King, Joëlle Jones, Tomeu Morey, and Clayton Cowles.

These were consequentially stories that had a lighter tone in comparison to the rest. Although, I also really enjoyed the story from Bendis and would love to see more Batman work from him in the future, especially considering his history writing street-level character similar to some of Batman’s rogues’ gallery. I would even like to see his own take on the family, like Dick Grayson or Jason Todd. Furthermore, the end story from Tomasi features a new Arkham Knight and teases the upcoming arc of the series.

My only major critique with the overflowing issue is the lack of women behind these stories. While I understand why there might not be a lot of Batgirl in the book, I don’t understand is why there is not one single woman writing a Batman story in 2019. I appreciated the few female names I saw on the creative list, but I would have loved to see a woman take a stab at understanding the psyche of the Dark Knight, especially considering the recent Batman YA novel, Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu which DC announced would be getting a graphic novel adaptation. I would have loved to see Gail Simone, Joëlle Jones, Kelly Sue DeConnick (Aquaman), or any other lady over at DC writing one of the stories in this anthology.

Overall, Detective Comics #1000 is a fantastic anthology for both Batman and comic book fans that offers a wide array of stories. The 96-page book will set you back a $9.99 which is a tad more than a traditional comic but in my very biased Batman-fangirl opinion, it is well worth the cost.

Detective Comics #1000 is available now wherever comic books are sold.